Minimally processed fruits and vegetables-freshness with convenience

minimal processing allows consumers to have fresh like quality fruits and vegetables with convenience. Minimal processing operations like cutting, slicing, chopping, peeling, etc. cause injuries to the plant tissues and initiate enzymatic changes. As the tissues are still living these operations cause ethylene production, respiration, accumulation of secondary metabolites and water loss from tissues and make them more susceptible to microbial spoilage. The tissue response to cutting depends on the type of cultivar, physiological maturity of the fruit or vegetable and pre-harvest crop management. However, dut to continued respiration and enzymatic activity, minimally processed fruits and vegetables suffer changes in nutritional value and sensory quality like loss of texture, appearance and flavour during storage. Minimally processed fruits and vegetables offer a good media for the growth of microorganisms and a number of pathogenic microorganisms are reported to grow over them. A number of preservative methods have been used for minimally processed fruits and vegetables like addition of texture improvers, antibrowning agents, acidulants, antimicrobial agents, reduction in a(w) and mild heat tretments combined with modified atmospheric packaging and refrigerated storage. Use of ionizing radiation and novel non-thermal preservative technologies like high pressure and pulsed electric field have shown promising results in producing high quality and safe minimally processed products.